









OLOMBIA 


Te 


\ Land of Great 


a Hi  ossibilities* 


| 


By JOHN BARRETT 
Hanited States Minister to Colombia, 1905-1906 


(1908) Director of the International Bureau of 
) Wades’ the American Republics) 


rinted from the Daily Consular and Trade Reports of the Department 
merce and Labor—Bureau of Manufactures, 1906, and distributed by a 
#f New York business men interested in the extension of American 
ith Latin America. 








BV ray oo IEG 


awaken wider interest in the great 
Republic of Colombia. I say “great” 
-advisedly, as will be seen later on, 
in my discussion of her area and 
resources. Not only should the 





> merchants, manufacturers, exporters, and capital- 


ists of the United States, from selfish reasons, 
turn their eyes to Colombia, but all men, who 
are students of international affairs, or who care 
to keep informed on remarkable achievement and 
possibilities beyond the confines of the United 
States, should watch Colombian progress. Then 
there is a particular reason, growing out of the 
recent Panama unpleasantness, why the govern- 
ment and people of the United States should lend 
Colombia a helping hand in her efforts to develop 
a new era of prosperity. 

I do not lay any claims to being a prophet, but, 
simply making a calculation for the future, as 
reasonable as to say that four will be the sum if 
you can find two and two to add, I desire to go 
on record as believing that Colombia will presently 
experience a material development like that of 
Mexico, which has astonished the world and 
attracted the investment of six hundred millions 
gold of United States money. Jn other words, I 
hold, after having visited nearly all the Latin- 
American republics from Mexico to Argentina, 
that Colombia in proportion to area and popula- 
tion is the richest of all in variety and extent of 
undeveloped resources and opportunities. 


THE TIME TO ACT 
It especially behooves the trade, investment, and 
political interests of the United States to give heed 
to Colombia’s potentialities without further delay, 


>because the corresponding interests of Europe 


are already aroused to their appreciation and 
legitimate exploitation. Although Colombia is at . 
our very doors, although it is nearer to the prin- 
cipal ports of the United States than any other 
South American country, we are almost in the 
attitude of sitting idly by and listlessly watching 
the distant nations of Europe develop her internal 
resources and control her foreign commerce. 
How feelingly I write can be realized when I 
record that only a few days ago (in May, 1906), a 
great English corporation completely bought out 
the principal American railway, steamboat, and 
development company in Colombia,—and this fol- 


lowed the sale by another American company of 


- 


3 
peby il 


one of the best railroad concessions in the country © 
to a European corporation. Such transfers can- 
not indicate lack of confidence in the future of 
Colombia, as Europeans study that phase of the 
situation even more carefully than Americans; © 
they are rather due either to American desire to © 
make immediate profits by selling out, or to lack 
of familiarity of Americans with the ultimate j et 
sibilities of the country. 


COLOMBIA’S STRATEGIC LOCATION 

I wish first to call attention to a few remarkable 
geographical facts about Colombia, not generally 
known, but which should serve to awaken special 
interest in her as one of our nearest neighbors and 
one of the most important. Colomabia’s intimate 
proximity to the United States is brought out 
clearly by the following points :— 

(1) The least distance between Colombia and 
the United States is only 950 miles. 

(2) From Cartagena to Tampa, Florida, is 
less distance by sea than from New York 
to St. Louis by land. 

(3) From Cartagena to New Orleans is only 
1,400 miles or four days easy steaming. 

(4) From Barranquilla, another Colombian 
port, to New York is almost a straight 
line, due north, less than 1,900 miles and 
five days easy steaming. 

(5) Colombia is nearer than Panama to the 
majority of Atlantic and Gulf ports of 
the United States. 

Colombia’s strategic position in commerce and 
international relations is demonstrated by the fact 
that she is the only South American country bor- 
dering on both the Atlantic and Pacific and there- 
fore having immediate and direct access by the 
great highway of the sea to the markets of the 
entire world. The completion of the Panama 
Canal, will, moreover, strengthen this ideal po- 
sition. Colombia has nearly 500 miles reach of 
coast, respectively, on the Atlantic and the Pacific. 


HER VAST EXTENT OF AREA 
Colombia’s area entitles her to rank among the 


larger countries of the world. Comparisons in 
this case are not odious, but decidedly interesting. 
Some that will help to picture her extent are 
the following :— 
(1) Colombia is larger than Germany, Hol- 
land, and Belgium combined. 
(2) Larger than all the coast states of the 
United States from Maine to Florida 





united, with Ohio and West Virginia 
added. 

(3) Larger than Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, 
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, 
Kentucky, and Tennessee merged in one 
State. 

(4) As large as California, Oregon, Wash- 
ington, Idaho, and Nevada together. 

These comparisons permit people in different 
parts of the United States to comprehend readily 
why I call Colombia “great,” and show more 
plainly her size than if it were simply recorded 
that her area exceeds 500,000 square miles. 

As her population is not more than 4,000,000, 
with an area and productive capacity to support 
40,000,000, it can be seen that she is in the very 
infancy of her development. In speaking of her 
population, let me add that the majority of her 
inhabitants are hard-working and industrious, and, 
were it not for the many civil wars that have 
drained their life-blood and exhausted their ener- 
gies, they would be one of the richest peoples per 
capita in the world. Jt is the fervent prayer of all 
sincere friends of Colombia that President Reyes 
may be spared in health and life to succeed in his 
noble efforts to evolve permanent peace and con- 


sequent prosperity for his long-suffering land. 


THE APPROACHES TO COLOMBIA 


The foregoing description of Colombia’s location 
and area naturally suggests the question: How is 
Colombia now approached from the United States, 
or how are her principal ports and interior points 
reached by trade and travelers? There are two 
important ports on the Atlantic or Caribbean 
shore, namely, Barranquilla and Cartagena, which 
are connected with New York by regular steam- 
ship lines running frequently, and with Boston, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans and Gal- 
veston by occasional steamers. Chief among the 
former are the Hamburg-American (German) 
which has absorbed the Atlas Line, and the Royal 
Mail (English). The Hamburg-American, which 
is adding new steamers, touches at Kingston, 
Jamaica, and Port Limon, Costa Rica, en route, 
and the Royal Mail, which has recently entered 
the field of communication with New York, at 
Colon (Panama) and Kingston. There is also 
a line of fast steamers belonging to the United 
Fruit Company and running regularly and often 
between Santa Marta, near Barranquilla, and New 
York or New Orleans. There are, therefore, fair 





facilities for the exchange of trade and travel be- 
tween Colombia and the United States, but these 
would be greatly improved if business demanded. 

Europe is even better off in its steamship com- 
munication with Colombia, except for the heavy 
handicap of distance and time, as there are numer- 
ous large freight and passenger vessels plying 
regularly between the above-mentioned ports and 
those of England, Germany, France, Spain, and 
Italy. 

On the Pacific side the only port of importance 
is Buenaventura, which is connected with Panama 
by regular weekly steamers and smaller coasting 
vessels. It is not yet a large town, but it is 
destined to be a city of considerable size when the 
Panama Canal is opened, and when the new rail- 
road, now being constructed by two enterprising 
Americans, Messrs. Alfred Bishop and Edward H. 
.Mason, is completed to Bogota, the capital. It is 
the gateway to the marvelously rich state of Cauca, 
which, with an extent equal to that of California, 
is described by the best authorities as one of the 
“garden spots” of the world. Shipments and 
travel to Buenaventura, Cali, Palmira, Popayan, 
in the Cauca, from either San Francisco or New 
York, go now via Panama. 

Referring again to the Atlantic coast, it is to 
be noted that the principal interior points, like 
Medellin, Manizales, Bucaramanga, and Bogota, 
excepting those in the Cauca just mentioned, and 
some points now accessible through Lake Mara- 
caibo, near Venezuela, like Cucuta, are reached 
through Cartagena and Barranquilla and thence 
by extensive river and overland routes. Colombia 
is greatly favored with navigable rivers. By 
means of the mighty Magdalena flowing due north 
through the heart of Colombia from Ecuador to 
the Atlantic, and by its tributaries, over half her 
area has a natural outlet and inlet to and from 
the sea. 


HER REMARKABLE CLIMATE 


Perhaps the chief marvel of Colombia is her 
variety of climate. The average foreigner pic- 
tures Colombia as hot as “Tophet” and steaming 
like the jungles of Kipling’s tales. He looks on 
the map and this view is confirmed. But what a 
mistake! Although all of Colombia is geographi- 
cally in the tropics and its southwestern point is 
only a few miles from the equator, it has sections 
as large as New England where the climate is as 
cool and refreshing the year round as that of 








Vermont in May and September, and where all 
the products of the temperate zone grow even 
better than they do in Maine and Minnesota. It is 
not merely location on the map but altitude above 
_ the sea that determines temperature. 

When the generous Creator made Colombia He 
remembered this fact and counterbalanced her 
equatorial proximity by upheaving vast plateaus 
in the Andes to such a height that they possess an 
ideal climate. But He did not spoil His work by 
monotonous similarity; on the contrary He inter- 
wove with these lofty plains beautiful warm 
valleys where grow in glorious abundance all the 
products of the rich tropics. The average resi- 
dent of Colombia can have upon his table any day 
the best food of both zones, raised in his imme- 
diate neighborhood. 


MINGLING OF PLATEAUS AND VALLEYS 


Three magnificent branches of the Andean Cor- 
dillera extend right through Colombia and pro- 
vide her with a mingling of tropical valleys and 
temperate plateaus unequalled in any other part of 
the world. There are scores of places in Colombia 
where one can lie in a hammock under a palm tree 
eating bananas, and yet gaze almost straight up 
and behold in plain view the everlasting snows 
of neighboring mountain peaks. In as many other 
places I have sat wrapped in an overcoat upon 
the verandah of an Hacienda in the “high coun- 
try,” and looked far down into valleys where the 
only covering of the children playing about was 
that which God had given them. All this suggests 
the pertinent inquiry: How can a country fail to 
be immeasurably rich which has these character- 
istics? JI enlarge upon them, as only in that way 
can I arouse the real interest of the average man 
who reads diplomatic and consular reports. 


BOGOTA : COLOMBIA’S UNIQUE CAPITAL 


Let us consider Bogota, the interesting, cul- 
tured, and influential capital of Colombia. Here 
is a city of 120,000 people, only 250 miles from 
the equator, which glories in a climate, never as 
cold as that of Atlanta, Georgia, never as hot as 
that of Montreal, in Canada, and bracing—but 
never chilling—the entire year, and which would 
become one of the world’s most popular health 
resorts if it were easily accessible. But that is 
not all—it is beautifully located on a level plain or 
savannah, 8,500 feet above the sea, that winds in 
and out through the surrounding mountains for 
nearly 100 miles in length and varies in width 


from forty to five miles. That this fair plain was 
once the bed of a great inland sea there can be 
no doubt. Its soil is marvelously rich, and upon 
it are raised cattle, horses, mules, pigs and goats, 
as well as wheat, corn, barley, alfalfa, potatoes, 
and all kinds of vegetables, which would please 
the most critical farmers of Illinois and Nebraska. 

On the other hand, take the railroad train from 
Bogota to the edge of the plateau, mount a mule 
and descend the mountains for a two hours’ ride, 
and you will be in the midst of great coffee ha- 
ciendas, sugar and banana plantations, and all the 
luxuriance of the real tropics. 


PRODUCTS OF COLOMBIAN SOIL. 


The logical sequence of this discussion is a sum- 
mary of the various Colombian products of the 
soil. In the so-called “hot country” we find 
coffee, cocoa, sugar, tobacco, indigo, cacao, 
bananas, vanilla, corn, rice, beans, yucca, oranges, 
lemons, pineapples, alligator pears, and other 
tropical fruits growing in splendid abundance. 
Then in the forests are cedar and mahogany, dye 
woods, vegetable ivory, Peruvian bark, rubber 
trees, sarsaparilla, cocoa, ipecacuanha, gums, 
resins and rare orchids. Cotton will grow readily 
in the open, but so far it is little cultivated, while 
on the warm uplands are the cinchona, wax palms, 
balsam of tolu, vine of the cross, and the arisa in 
the forest, and corn, barley, wheat, potatoes, etc., 
in the plantations. 

To describe further the products of the cooler 
plateaus of Colombia would simply be to name 
those of Northern United States and Europe, but 
the oddity and advantage of it all to Colombia is 
that the hot and cold zones are in such remarkable 
and accessible proximity. We do not think of 
Colombia as a cattle country, but I have seen as 
fine beef on the hoof in both the hot and cold sec- 
tions of the republic as can be raised on our west-. 
ern plains. The day is not remote when Colombia 
will be supplying the New York market with 
meat, and it should supply the present and future 
demands of the Panama Canal zone not only with 
beef but with all other kinds of fresh natural 
products. 


HER WEALTH OF MINERALS 


Now let us turn to the ever-fascinating subject 
of minerals and mines. Colombia would be a rich 
country if dependent only on its agricultural and 





forest wealth, but it has a vast supply of min- 
erals and precious stones that only would make it 
a land of immense riches. Jf coal ever gives out 
in the United States there is enough in Colombia 
to supply the-world for centuries. It is found in 
many different parts of the republic, including the 
neighborhood of Cali in the Cauca on the Pacific 
and also near the Atlantic coast; while there is 
so much soft or bituminous coal in the mountains 
around Bogota that the numerous mines, running 
into their sides here and there, remind one of 
giant gopher holes. 

There are also indications of anthracite de- 
posits which may rival those of Pennsylvania. So 
far these have not been developed because the na- 
tives do not understand or like hard coal. 

Gold is mined in the states of Antioquia, Caldas, 
Tolima, and Santander in richly paying quantities, 
and experts declare that some day there will be a 
“boom” here like those of the Klondike, Cali- 
fornia, and South Africa. Silver is found in 
Antioquia, Cauca, and Tolima; copper in Boyaca; 
platinum in Cauca; petroleum in Tolima; while 
lime, alum, chalk, magnesia, sulphur, marble, 
asphalt, cinnabar, lead, quicksilver ore are found 
in large deposits in many parts of the country. 

At Pradera, not far from Bogota, iron and coal 
are side by side in such vast amounts that costly 
iron works have been erected and it is now pro- 
posed to undertake the manufacture of steel by 
the Bessemer process. 


A GREAT DEVELOPMENT AHEAD 


While I am not an expert or authority on mines 
or minerals, I have seen enough of them, espe- 
cially in the United States and in Mexico, to be 
convinced from my investigations in Colombia 
that when this republic is once opened up with 
railroads she will experience a mining exploitation 
and development equal to that of Mexico or our 
West. I expect and hope to see millions of Amer- 
ican money presently invested on a paying basis 
in Colombia, not only in mines but in railroads, 
industries, agriculture, and commerce. It is an 
inviting field, and the more one studies it, the 
more he is convinced of its great potentialities. 
Of course there are prospectors upon prospectors 
who visit Colombia and return to the United 
States condemning and denying her resources, but 
other countries, like Mexico, have had similar ex- 
periences and yet turned out immensely rich. 



















































MATERIAL RELATIONSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT 


The United States is Colombia’s best market. 
Not only now does the United States buy. more 
Colombian products than any other foreign na- 
tion, but, as time goes on, Colombia is sure to 
depend more and more on the demands of Ameri- 
can consumption. At the same time the United 
States is able to supply four-fifths of what Co- 
lombia now buys abroad and should in time con- 
trol by far the major portion of her imports. 
Thus, both the United States and Colombia, hav- 
ing vital and mutual interests at stake, should 
certainly study their commercial and political re- 
lations in the sincere hope of permanently better- 
ing them. I reflect in no way on the efforts of 
Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain 
to advance their material and trade interests in 
Colombia; per contra, I admire the efforts which 
their representatives and subjects are making to 
add to their commerce and prestige in Colombia. 
There is abundant room and abundant business for 
all without unpleasant rivalry, while the more 
these diverse national interests work in harmony, 
the more good they can do not only to themselves 
but to Colombia and Colombians also. 

It is, however, humiliating to see Europeans, 
having actually less at stake than Americans, in- 
vesting in the country or locating here, in the 
place of Americans of faint heart and temporary 
stay. There are some gratifying exceptions to 
this rule, and such Americans are not only liked 
by the people but they are sure to reap in time a 
worthy reward for their confidences in the country 
and their perseverance in developing its manifold 
resources. They are wise in their generation 
where the majority are foolish. 






WHAT COLOMBIA BUYS AND SELLS 


Today Colombia is selling to the United States 
such exports as coffee, hides, alligator and goat 
skins, gold bars and dust, rubber, tobacco and 
balsam of tolu, heron plumes and other feathers, 
straw hats, bananas, cocoanuts, chocolate, ivory 
nuts, quina, platinum, dye woods, cedar and ma- 
hogany, orchids, etc. The value of these exports 
to the United States in 1905 approximated $6,300,- 
ooo gold. This amount will be tripled when Co- 
lombia is started on an era of permanent peace, 
and the national productiveness is accordingly 
increased. 

Colombian imports from the United States in- 
clude flour, kerosene oil, agricultural implements, 


IO 








mining and sugar refining machinery, railroad and 
steamboat equipment, novelties of all kinds, shoes, 
matches, arms, sporting goods, hardware, dyes 
and chemicals, toilet articles, some lines of cotton 
cloth and clothing, paper and printing supplies, 
etc.; but, excepting the first of these items, the 
- greatest quantities are supplied by Europe. Im- 
ports from the United States in 1905 amounted 
in value only to $3,700,000, although the grand 
total of foreign imports amounted approximately 
from $12,000,000 to $15,000,000. 


ADVERSE CONDITIONS OF TRADE 


If I were to make any special comment upon 
conditions which act as a hardship on foreign im- 
ports, I would call attention, with all due respect 
to the Colombian government and the reasons it 
may have for its policies, first, to the excep- 
tionally high fees charged by Colombian consu- 
lates for certifying to invoices, and, second, to 
the frequent changes that are made in the Co- 
lombian tariff schedule without due notice to ex- 
porters and importers. The sooner the govern- 
ment lowers the former to reasonable figures and 
makes the latter more stable, the sooner will it 
foster foreign trade and increase its own revenue. 
Chambers of Commerce of the United States, 
England, and France, have complained to their 
respective foreign offices, and they have in turn 
instructed their different diplomatic officers at 
Bogota to make earnest representations on these 
points, but the handicap still exists. It is to be 
hoped that President Reyes, with characteristic 
good judgment, will soon order the new and 
necessary changes and improvements. 


PACKING AND TRANSPORTATION 


While discussing commercial embargos, I wish 
to remind American exporters that the necessity 
of strong, careful, and special packing is more 
apparent in Colombia than in almost any other 
country. Two peculiar features of the situation 
must always be borne in mind: first, the tropical 
atmosphere at all ports of entry and in the lower 
section; second, the mule-back transportation 
overland from the rivers to the cities and towns 
of the higher interior. The dampness and heat 
of the former will ruin delicate and other ship- 
ments not incased in tin or other suitable air and 
water-tight covering, while the limited carrying 
facilities of the latter require that packages shall 
not exceed 125 pounds in weight. These rules 





a 


apply to the great average run of imports. Of 
course there is a special provision for heavy ma- 
chinery, but its transportation is always expensive, 
dangerous, and slow. The completion of the new 
railroads, now being laid down, should solve the 
problems of weight, but it cannot provide against 
the dampness and heat. 


COLOMBIA SHOULD INTEREST ALL CLASSES 


As I wish to interest not only business men but 
those of other callings and pursuits, permit me 
to say a passing word about two or three widely 
diverse features of my subject. The student of 
literature, politics, history, social and educational 
development can find much to attract his thought 
and attention in Colombia. Ever since Christopher 
Columbus discovered Cape Gracias a Dios, Co- 
lombia has been the scene of important and 
stirring events. The sway of Spain lasted nearly 
three centuries and the history thereof is full of 
romance and excitement. From the independence 
of the republic in 1810 until now, Colombia has 
been rcognized as one of the forceful nations of 
South America, and she has provided her quota 
of men eminent in the economic, political, social, 
and literary life of the Southern Continent. The 
national library of 40,000 volumes in Bogota holds 
abundant evidence of the valuable work of her 
statesmen, generals, scholars, poets, historical and 
romantic writers, scientists, and geographers. 


A FIELD FOR THE SPORTSMAN AND SCIENTIST 


On the other hand, the true American who loves 
sportsmanship and hunting for the exercise and 
rest, or the professional explorer and hunter who 
seeks new fields and prey, will find in Colombia 
unrivalled opportunities for pleasure or adven- 
ture. In the tropical and semi-tropical forests 
roam the jaguar, puma, bear, amarillo, tapir, pec- 
cary, sloth, deer, opossum, and cary. In the 
trees can be seen monkeys and a multitude of. 
bird species like condors, parrots, cockatoos, tou- 
cans, bush turkeys or grouse, and humming-birds. 
In the rivers are legions of alligators and iguanas, 
while along the coast are turtles in abundance. 
Cranes and storks fly over the damp lowlands and 
boa constrictors crawl through the rank vegeta- 
tion. In the higher and colder country are deer, 
foxes, mountain lions, and tigers, and along the 
lagoons and among the fields duck, snipe, and 
pigeons. 

The geologist, mineralogist, botanist, forester, 





and average scientist, moreover, can always find 
abundant lines of study and investigation, re- 
spectively, in the geological formation, mineral 
deposits, flora and tree growth, and general physi- 
cal characteristics of Colombia. In this connec- 
tion it must be remembered that the great Hum- 
boldt found this part of South America the most 
interesting of his travels. The National Museum 
in Bogota contains rare specimens of fauna, flora, 
mineral and geological development, which in- 
terest both the layman and the specialist. 


THE FEELING TOWARDS AMERICANS 


The question is continually being asked me: 
What is the attitude of the Colombian government 
and people towards Americans and American in- 
terests on account of the Panama affair? With- 
out entering upon any political discussion, I wish, 
in answering this pertinent inquiry, to take ad- 
vantage of the opportunity to pay a just and 
frank tribute to Colombia. Speaking in the first 
place for myself as Minister, I can truthfully say 
that ever since my arrival here eight months ago, 
I have been treated with a generous kindness and 
sincere hospitality which has made a deep impres- 
sion on me and increased my respect for Co- 
lombians in particular and Latin-Americans in 
general. The United States Minister has been 
extended invitations official and personal, and the 
United States Legation, in turn, has been con- 
tinually frequented by leading men of all parties, 
as if nothing had ever happened to mar the 
entente cordiale of the two countries. 

In the granting of concessions and in the hear- 
ing of claims the government has treated Ameri- 
cans with as much consideration as Europeans. 
During my stay here, and up to this time, there 
has not been one complaint lodged in this Lega- 
tion by Americans of unkind treatment by Co- 
lombians due to any political or anti-American 
feeling. In my own travels in various parts of 
the country, officials and peons alike have every- 
where accorded me polite and even gracious at- 
tention. To let it be known that I was United 
States Minister has always brought extra courte- 
sies rather than any lack of them. 


THE FUTURE FULL OF HOPE 


I would not, however, have it understood abroad 
that there is not still strong feeling against the 
United States. It does exist, but the passage of 
years, and generous, fair treatment of Colombia 





13 






and Colombians by the United States and its 
citizens, in international relations and friendly 
social and commercial intercourse, will accom- 
plish its gradual disappearance. Such feeling does 
not take the attitude of personal enmity towards 
Americans. The Colombians, high and low, are 
too polite and sensible for that. It is a feeling, 
in the minds and hearts based on high political 
and patriotic grounds, which, however, with com- 
mendable philosophy, recognizes the inevitable, 
and now turns to the future to bring blessings that 
will counterbalance the losses and sorrows of the 
past. 

The very courage and nobility of this attitude 
of Colombia are one of the chief reasons why I 
predict for her a magnificent future. Already 
this policy—if I may call it policy—is bearing 
fruit in the development of a greater, more 
friendly and sympathetic interest throughout the 
United States in Colombia, which is destined to 
lead to a mutually favorable understanding and 
settlement of all differences in the near future in 
the form of new treaties of peace, friendship, and 
commerce. 
























CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS 










Before concluding this report one or two points 
should be touched upon. Great credit is due Gen- 
eral Rafael Reyes, President of this Republic, for 
his untiring efforts to restore the prosperity of his 
country to the position it occupied before the last 
civil war and the loss of Panama. If he succeeds, 
he will deserve a place in history like that of 
President Diaz in Mexico. He has so far ef- 
fectually stopped revolutions, and, if his life and 
health are spared, Colombia would seem to be 
assured of peace at least during his administra- 
tion. 

A word of credit should also be given the press 
of the country for its efforts to promote the wel- 
fare of the nation. Such newspapers as El Correo 
Nacional and El Nuevo Tiempo in Bogota, El 
Porvenir in Cartagena, El Conservador and Rigo- 
letto in Barranquilla. La Patria in Medellin, El 
Correo del Cauca in Cali, and El Trabajo in 
Cucuta, are enterprising, public-spirited, and well 
educated. They are especially to be commended 
for their fair treatment of the United States and 
of Americans residing in Bogota, and Colombia. 

For the benefit of those desiring further de- 
tailed information about Colombia, I would refer 
them to the International Bureau of American 




























V4 








Republics in Washington and to the excellent re- 
ports of the United States Consul-General at 
Bogota and of the Consuls at Cartagena and Bar- 
ranquilla, published in the “Commercial Relations 
of the United States” and the “Daily Consular 
and Trade Reports” issued by the Bureau of 
Manufactures, of the Department of Commerce 
and Labor. Any questions addressed to me care 
of the Department of State, Washington, D. C.,, 
will also be courteously and promptly answered 
to the best of my ability. 


United States Legation, 
Bogota, Colombia, June 7, 1906. 





15 


SN 








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